Sure Beats Working For A Living

A few weeks back I was discussing Treasure, Wealth, and Money in RPGs with my Sunday evening gaming group when the topic took a turn toward in game economics. 

Hmm. Perhaps that's not an accurate name for subject I want to discuss but it is how I think of it. What I really mean is the bookkeeping elements of certain RPGs that relate to the game world or universe's economy.

• Busting Ghosts, getting paid, and putting take-out Chinese on the table in Ghostbusters.
• Docking fees, repairs, and paying off that galactic gangster you owe in Star Wars.
• Hiring Hirelings for Hire and I assume paying them in Dungeons and Dragons.
• Things like fuel, upkeep, and payments on a starship in Traveller.

These are just some examples of what I'm talking about but hopefully enough for you to get the idea. The settings of many RPGs revolve around the making of money just like real life does. [Remember this as it will come into play later on]. Making money in this context is very different from seeking Treasure. At least it is in my mind. 

As opposed to Treasure being the one time motivation and reward for completing an adventure, Money is the ongoing ancillary element that allows the adventure to happen and to continue. Without Treasure, a Fantasy Adventurer goes on an adventure to find Treasure. Without Money, a business is out of business and the 'adventure' is over. 

Now the big question that this brought to my mind was...is this fun? Is a game where you struggle to make sure your company stays afloat or you have enough fuel to keep your ship running something people enjoy? 

Responses were mixed. 

My friend Keith summed up the overall consensus that, "Worrying about how much money I have and whether or not I can pay the bills is what I do in real life. Making that money and balancing my books is work. I am not here to do work. I'm here to have fun."

Sure, I get that. Far be for me, as Anti-Math as they come, to advocate economics as an enjoyable pastime but...well...I have on more than one occasion run and played in games where this dynamic was present to a greater or lesser extent and had a blast. Funny enough, it hasn't always involved 'real math' but rather an abstraction of money management that sets a tone and atmosphere more than anything else. 

The best example of this in my own experience is Ghostbusters, specifically my Ghostbusters/InSpectres hybrid. There you have a pool of dice or rather a set of pools called, 'Franchise Dice'. In my version, there are three pools that make up a Ghostbusters Franchise:

• Information - Resources in the form of physical or digital writing or access to it. 
• Equipment - Resources in the form of physical device and gear on hand or accessible. 
• Capital - Resources in the form of liquid assets - Cash or funds that are easily accessible. 

An example of Information would be a small library at the team headquarters that includes Spates Catalog and Tobin's Spirit Guide. An example of Equipment would be a pair of Hand-Held Fire Extinguishers or a Geiger Counter. An example of Capital would be a Bank Account that enables you to write a check to pay a fine from the EPA. 

PCs in my Ghostbusters/InSpectres mash-up get Experience Points towards improving their skills but they can also pool their points to improve one of the three Franchise Dice categories. The catch is, in order to improve any of the Franchise Dice the team must have been paid for their services and have a positive amount of money after paying for any fines or damages they caused.

In the end I am not saying monetary resource management is objectively fun, though I am sure some gamers out there do. What I am saying is that for me, some resource management and the trappings of 'needed to pay the bills' can be an interesting part of an RPG campaign; one oft overlooked aspect of 'Survival Skill' in modern to future settings. If you focus on the results more than the math itself, it adds a distinct level of immersion that makes certain genres and settings feel more real. 

AD

Barking Alien

Sleepless Nights, Endless Laughter

Hi Ho and Welcome to the Afterlife!

It's October, the month of Halloween! You know, that one day at the end of October which dominates the tone and aesthetic of the entirety of the preceding thirty days plus itself. 

Don't get me wrong, I love Halloween...kinda sorta. OK, largely I do. I like the idea of it

A day that celebrates all things spooky and weird with candy and costumes definitely makes me smile. Unfortunately, as noted in the past, I am not exactly a Horror fan and I don't dress up any longer or go Trick or Treating so the practical applications of the holiday are a bit lost on me. 

I also miss Halloween being more silly and fun and less frightful and gorey. That said, when a rare attempt to combine these two takes on All Hallow's Eve comes around I am totally down for it. It just so happens that Disney Plus has done just that with Muppets Haunted Mansion. 

First, a little background...

Muppets Haunted Mansion is a project with a considerable history.

The Henson Company has been trying to develop a Halloween special featuring the Muppets for about 50 years. The first was The Muppets Halloween Show. Developed in 1970, the proposed special had a very strange premise and one that wasn't particularly 'Halloween' themed. Eventually the project was cancelled in favor of other ideas that would become the pilots for The Muppet Show. 

A year after Jim Henson's passing in 1990, his son Brian sought to keep the Muppets in the public eye via a series of holiday specials beginning with a Halloween one. That concept was shelved and instead Henson Associates created the TV series Muppets Tonight. 

A third idea was proposed just after Walt Disney acquired the Muppet in 2009. This version met its end as focus changed to the production of a new film, The Muppets, which hit theatres in November of 2011. 

Now, in 2021, Disney has merged the Muppets franchise with their world famous Haunted Mansion theme park attraction for what I must say was an excellent outing.

Written and directed by Muppet production alumni Kirk Thatcher* (Kelly Younger and Bill Barretta also have Screenwriter credits) and featuring three new and original songs by Ed Mitchell and Steve Morrell, the streaming program features Gonzo the Great and Pepe the King Prawn being invited to spend the night at the famously haunted home of legendary stage magician The Great MacGuffin. This being the 100th Anniversary of MacGuffin's mysterious disappearance and him being something of a hero of Gonzo's, everyone's favorite blue-purple weirdo is just dying (get it?) to accept the challenge of staying over in the world's most spooky abode. 

I won't say more as not to spoil things but I will say, as I often do, what I liked and what could've been a bit better. I will avoid spoilers and discuss things more generally. May have to revisit this later. 

The Good

The special largely focuses on Gonzo and as he is my personal favorite of the Muppets, I was thrilled by the choice to make him [effectively] the star of the show. I also like Pepe and teaming them together is always a good idea.

The puppetry and effects were awesome if not ground breaking. Very impressive and well done to be sure. 

Numerous cameos by Muppets we haven't see in forever! I won't say who but if you are a fan of previous Muppet productions you will be pleasantly surprised to see old favorites and obscure notable revisited.

The integration of the Muppet with the Haunted Mansion lore, as well as the modifications to the latter to make it work better with the Muppets, really worked and I think it was excellent given the need to do so. 

It was funny. In some parts very funny, which is a big plus and something that was missing from much of the ABC TV series. The Muppet characters were also very much in character - more like in the Disney Plus Muppets Now episodes, although...see below.

The Bad

Not bad but there were things that could've been better. 

First and foremost, the special focuses so much on Gonzo (and to a lesser extent Pepe) that the other Muppets are really just there for elaborate to very minor cameos. We don't get to see the Muppets enough so it is a shame we only got to see them in brief glimpses in this show as the next time could be...who knows? Disney's track record with the Muppets is spotty at best. 

One character who doesn't get nearly enough screen time given this specific special is Uncle Deadly. The 'Phantom of the Muppet Show' and a break-out star of the Disney era of the Muppets gets waaay too little to do or say given the Haunted Mansion concept. 

The Creepy

I really liked the creepiness that was put in, elevating the special above the level of 'children's programming' while still keeping the Muppets the Muppets. With some very eerie effects and some mature through lines, this felt the closest to the Muppets of old we've seen in a long time. 

Well, that's it ghosts and ghouls! Muppets Haunted Mansion is on Disney+ now and I whole-heartedly recommend it. Why it's so good...it's scary! Muhuwahahaha!

Until next time,

AD

Barking Alien

For another take on the Muppets + Halloween + Another Disney Franchise, check out these posts on the second time I ran The Muppets RPG at RECESS:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

*Kirk Thatcher is well remembered by Star Trek fans as well as Muppets ones. For a Barking Alien No-Prize can anyone point our Thatcher's contribution to Trek?

There's More To You Than Money

Continuing my thoughts on the role of Treasure in RPGs...

When I first entered the RPG hobby I had very little experience with or exposure to Fantasy fiction of the type that inspired D&D.

I may have read The Hobbit by that point but I'm not positive. I first played Holmes Basic D&D in August of '77 and the animated film wouldn't air until November. Fantasy to me was Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and books like Faeries and Gnomes. I knew what Knights, Dragons, and Castles were thanks to Erol Flynn films on the Sunday Afternoon Movie, Walt Disney films and Bugs Bunny/Warner Brothers cartoons.

Yeah, I wasn't what you'd call 'well versed'. 

My closest friends were largely in the same situation, so we defaulted to what we did know: Movies, TV shows, and comic books. That's why in our first campaign ever we almost never looted the bodies, never checked for treasure, and we weren't really concerned about money for the most part. Of course we needed money from time to time but we didn't concern ourselves with it or with trying to amass it. Obtaining wealth and all that simply wasn't high on our list of interests or priorities. 

As I've mentioned, our roles models for heroic characters were Captain America, Mister Spock, and The Lone Ranger. None of these fellows searched fallen enemies for loose change. How demeaning for a hero! That's the work of low lives and common thieves. 

Sometime later when I would play with others who'd been playing the game 'correctly', I was confused and a little weirded out by all the pick pocketing, tomb robbing, and stealing from corpses. Over time and exposure to the source material found in Appendix N I found it...well...less strange but still freaking odd.

AD&D would eventually come along and we would start playing a game wherein you gain Loot Points...sorry...Experience Points for finding Treasure. Wait. Let me read that again. Experience equals something something Gold something something...hmmm. Yeah, not doing that.

It makes no sense. How does finding coins contribute to you being better at healing spells or smashing a goblin's head with your mace? The system already had enough counter-intuitive, hard to swallow concepts for me without the idea that wealth made you a better wall climber or barbarian berserker. This cognitive dissonance (which I honestly had with many elements of AD&D) was what first inspired me to do things a little differently.

Beginning with my first major Aerth/Winghorn Guard campaign in 1983 (or thereabouts), I used a homebrew Experience Point system based on things like 'Creative Use of an Ability, Spell, Item, or Weapon' and 'Personal Character Development'. Contrary to what some would assume, it wasn't that players tried to emote whenever possible to get XP but rather if you happened to you'd be rewarded.

These rewards were given by the DM (me) but based largely on popular opinion of the party members. Each player would bring up a cool moment, action, or bit of dialogue from one of the other players and we'd discuss if it warranted a reward. I still use a similar system today in many of my games. 

What made this work especially well back then was that The Winghorn Guard campaign wasn't about Treasure hunting. The game focused on the PCs as Heroes, protecting innocents from monsters, thwarting thieves guilds, and preventing mad demi-gods from taking over the world. How then would the PCs ever obtain Experience Points? In fact, I created a system wherein the PCs would get XP for donating coins/money to their organization to help maintain it. 

In the end I don't recall how wealthy any of these characters became. That is to say, we don't sit around telling stories of the Treasure we found or money we made. Does anyone? Instead, we remember the characters - their personalities, activities, and the events that surrounded them. That's what was memorable and so that's what was rewarded.

Additional thoughts are brewing...

AD

Barking Alien

Persistence of VISIONS

This is a re-write of my previous attempt at this entry.

After reading the original over a few times I felt it didn't quite say what I wanted it to say. I think this is more accurate to what I was hoping to communicate. 

I've now watched all the episodes of Star Wars: Visions at least twice, with some of them having been viewed three times. The ones I gave a third viewing to I watched in English that additional time. All the previous viewings were in Japanese with English subtitled which were (unfortunately) in Close Caption format as a standard English subtitle format isn't available on Disney+ for some reason.

While some of the English dubs were decent, even good, nothing beats listening to Japanese Seiyuu (Voice Actors) do their thing. Amazing. 

As a result of watching these episodes I'm inspired to run another Star Wars campaign but before I do I want to take a closer look at Visions and see what I can take away from the series and integrate in as  potential game material. 

Let's begin with which story elements I think would make for an interesting campaign. For this there is no better place to start then with Episode #5, 'The Ninth Jedi'.

I am imagining a Star Wars game set 'many generations' after the stories we know; perhaps a century since the last known Jedi protected the galaxy. War rages across the cosmos once more, fueled by sinister forces attempting to resurrect the Sith. 

Those who feel the call of the Light Side of The Force seek out one of the few others of their kind seeking to keep the legends of the Jedi alive. If tales are true, the art of Lightsaber construction, a skill thought lost to time, is known by Margrave Juro and the his new order of Jedi Knights. Will you be among them or will your fury and impatience lead you to the Dark Side?

In my humble opinion, this is a wonderful premise for an ongoing campaign and much of the phrasing above could be worked into an 'Opening Crawl' quite effectively.

This particulars of this narrative gives us the idea that everything that we know exists in Star Wars does in fact still exist in this setting. This is definitely the Star Wars universe you're playing in but it's all new and the familiar is old. We'd have R2 units, TIE Fighters, and Stormtrooper armor as things of the past, only seen on backwater worlds or in the possession of bandits.

This could give you planets like that seen in The Duel, with brigands dressed in Imperial and First Order cast-off equipment and local mercenaries using repurposed droids and weaponry.

 

With no Jedi Masters around Force Sensitive individuals are own their own, scouring the galaxy for any information on what the Jedi order was like and how to train in their ways. Alternate forms or beliefs in the Force, as seen in The Village Bridge, might be a hopeful Jedi's only way of becoming connected to the planets and people they seek to defend.

Another way might be a legacy left behind by a Jedi of a bygone era. Perhaps one of the Jedi from the Order's final days (prior to their resurrection in the campaign) left a Lightsaber, their teachings, or even a bloodline that influences one of the Player Characters. This would be akin to what was mentioned and mayhap implied in Episode #8, Lop and Ochō .

While the various episodes of Visions are not supposed to fit together, I am purposely creating a variation of the Star Wars milieu influenced by many of the entries.  

Definitely more to come...next I will address what system or system modifications I might use to make things feel a bit more 'Anime'.

More to come...

AD

Barking Alien

 

What's Treasure Worth?

One of the sacred crows of Old School gaming that I've always have a strange relationship with is the concept of 'Treasure'. 

Let me start by saying I will not be addressing Treasure from my usual vantage point as a Gamemaster and (occasional) player of games wherein Treasure simply isn't a thing - Star Trek, Star Wars, Superheroes, and others. I may talk about this in a separate post. We'll see. 

Instead, my goal is to discuss Treasure from a more general gaming point of view; though obviously one that is based on my own experiences and ideas on the subject, including my earliest forays into Dungeons & Dragons with Basic and Advanced 1st Edition.. 

Treasure is defined by Merriam-Webster as 'Wealth (such as money, jewels, or precious metals) stored up or hoarded'. 

Also:

Something of great worth or value

A collection of precious things

These certainly fit the traditional RPG meaning of Treasure wouldn't you say? We usually imagine piles of gold coins, a smattering of jewelry and gemstones, and perhaps a magical sword or ancient urn. Riches beyond ones wildest dreams are to be had for the Adventurer brave enough to seek them. 

Unless...that isn't what the Adventurer seeks.

In order to discuss Treasure as an Old School fan might understand it, I went to an Old School D&D fan - JB of B/X BLACKRAZOR - to give me his explanation of what Treasure is and why its awesome:

- As a goal, "money" is easily understood / recognized by players.

- As a goal, treasure acquisition is an objective, measurable means of success. You're not worried about what constitutes "good role-playing" or humor awards, etc.

- As a measurable objective, it invites risk-reward assessment (should we spend our resources (HPs, spells, etc.) to take down a big difficult score? etc.).

- For a GROUP of individuals (the players) it provides a unifying objective...we all want treasure, let's work (together, cooperatively) to find treasure.

- As a target objective, it invites a multitude of ways to accomplish the objective (stealth, trickery, negotiation, combat, etc.). When experience is only awarded for combat (as in 3E and 4E D&D, for example), there is only one means of earning experience points (fighting), limiting the experience overall.

- As a "tangible" objective of play (the imaginary characters must go after it), it encourages proactivity on the part of the players in order to gain the reward. Passive reward systems (XP for participation, for example) do not encourage proactivity. It provides no game-related impetus/motivation.

- With regard to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (first edition) specifically, treasure is tied directly to the game economy (it's needed for hirelings, training, equipment replacement, magical research, tithes and fees, construction, etc.) providing reinforcement of the reward system (we need money - we need to adventure - we acquire money - we spend money - we need money). 

Money is a common and easily understood goal and a common motivator for adventurers in many stories across an array of genres. Except...it isn't really. Certainly Captain James T. Kirk, Luke Skywalker, and Superman aren't motivated by the promise of wealth. Ah, I said I was going to avoid those universes so let's look at Fantasy...

Bilbo Baggins does not except the undertaking of traveling to the Lonely Mountain for the treasure. At the end of the Hobbit he is indeed a wealthy man but he is back home with a story to tell and that is his reward. 

Frodo Baggins doesn't go to Mount Doom to get rich. He journeys to rid the world of the evil of The One Ring and Sauron. 

Neither Elric, Corum, nor Dorian Hawkmoon were motivated by wealth but rather a mixture of political power, obligation, and on occasion love. 

Surely, Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser, the quintessential D&D Fantasy style heroes were drawn to the call of adventure by wealth, yes? Well...many of their adventures start with this idea but along the way they end up with more altruistic goals of saving cities and defeating villains. 

Money is mundane. It is a base need in societies that utilize it. The desire for it is easy to understand but simple, even shallow. There are also easier ways to obtain money than go through a trap laden cave network infested with monsters. If you're going to go through all that you'd better come out with a king's ransom in gold and there is the second problem...

If a group of PCs go through and adventure and face the same hardships, do they get the same share of the Treasure? Perhaps. Though perhaps one believes they did more work and they deserve a larger share. Another feels they exhausted resources and need extra Treasure to recoup their investment. A Fighter might begin and end a dungeon excursion with the same sword or find a magic sword but a Wizard isn't often getting their material components back if used and wands have charges. Incidentally, it always kind of bugged me that such items were finite while a dagger never runs out of stab. 

Wealth and the desire to obtain it promotes greed and greed is one of the lowest and saddest qualities of your...of the Human species. How many Thieves have attempted to rob from their own party? The common motivator of Treasure can easily become the thing that divides a group. A lot of wealth is never enough. On that note...

With the exception of the misprinted Treasure cache' at the climax of Tomb of Horrors, no published adventure I've ever seen delivers what it promises in the wealth department. I've yet to see a dragon's hoard that is truly a Dragon's Hoard, with PCs swimming in coins and jewels Scrooge McDuck style. 

Bilbo Baggins and Smaug

Art by Anatofinn Stark

Funny enough, if PCs did come across a Treasure trove like that they'd likely be done. They'd stop adventuring. That's how most folklore and legends go after all; hero goes to save their true love, must defeat a cruel antagonist, does so, and finds out their opponent has a vast collection of money, gems, etc. This signals, 'And they lived happily ever after', with the hero and his beloved wedding and settling down as a rich couple with a want for nothing. 

These are the issues with Treasure that have always perplexed me. 

• It is a simple, common, base desire/need that isn't heroic.
• It isn't noble, emotionally driven, and serves no greater purpose beyond personal gain.
• Making it the primary goal promotes envy, greed, and distrust. It can divide the group.
• It is never enough, partly because no reward is as epic as described in stories or art.
• If genre appropriate, Treasure would end the story. Filthy rich PCs need not adventure.

With all this in mind, we come to the real purpose of Treasure in most old school TRPGs: Rule mechanics. Treasure is a means to an end and that end is the meta-reward of Experience Points.

How much money you have translates to how good you are at your chosen vocation. Basically, the more coins you find on the floor the better you are at shooting arrows or praying to your deity for spells. All I can say to this is...HUH?!? This never made any sense to me. Never. Beginning with my first read throughs of Advanced D&D in the late 70s/early 80s to now I can not understand why the game was constructed this way. It feels like design laziness, though I will fully admit that's with the benefit of 40+ years of hindsight.

Dating back to my very first gaming session ever - August 25th, 1977, Holmes Basic Dungeons and Dragons - we had a plot. We had reasons for adventuring that weren't related to treasure. 

My Halfling was searching for his father who disappeared.

The Cleric was seeking a cure for a Curse.

The Elf was running from Human Undead out to get him. 

As it turned out, my father disappeared trying to deliver potions to the Human Kingdom (in the form of Hot Sauce!). The Cleric discovered the cure to the Curse involved using the potion, which had magical ingredients. The Curse was turning the dead into the Undead that were hunting the Elf.

The Elf turned out to be the lost Prince of his Kingdom but that's another tale...

The point is we were motivated by something more than money and it gave us deeper purpose. Instead of a group of ne'er do wells looking for wealth, we were heroes trying to save our Kingdoms and each other from an evil priest and his Undead curse. Everything connected and it unified the game to create a story I still remember 44+ years later.

Remember that one time you found that dollar bill on the floor? No? Neither do I. I know I've found money on the ground in the past but if you think any one of those times is specifically memorable to me...nope. Sorry. 

Art by Izzy Medrano

More thoughts to come...

AD

Barking Alien